[Debconf-team] Food planning (DebCamp mainly)

[Richard Darst <rkd@zgib.net>]

Hi,

This email is to provide a basis for planning food.

Food for reconfirmed people is here:
  http://rkd.zgib.net/http/debconf/only-reconfirmed/food-by-date.txt
and once people start arriving, there will be one for them, too.

The section most relevant for us is
"Statistics for people for whom we pay for food (S,P,C)"
and the top section is total meals per day if _everyone_ got a meal.

Also, those charts include _everyone_ having meals on their arrival day
and no one their departure day.



Some background information:

Sponsored, Prof, and Corp people have food included - they have
already paid DebConf, and Hotel Bosna should invoice us (through DIVA)
for their costs.  Basic people don't have food included, and should be
able to pay their own way somehow.

Normally, food is a tricky thing.  We never know exactly how many
people will eat on a given day (many people go out to eat at
unpredictable times, dinner more often than lunch), and we would like
to not pay for meals for people who don't show up.  We would also like
a way for non-Spons/Corp/Prof people to pay the cafeteria as they walk
in.  Also, many reconfirmed people won't show up (those in the Basic
category), which is why we'd like to make it able for them to pay at
the door.  Each year, there is a different way to work around these
issues.

If we could negotiate a way for the cafeteria to not need "exact"
numbers beforehand (we can provide an estimate), and they will 
- count the number of "food included" badges going in and invoice us
  later, and
- take payments from other people without us needing to track anything.
This would minimize the amount we would pay, with the least planning
on our part.



Proposed plan:

I propose that we arrange DebCamp food for now, since that has less
uncertainty.  Then during DebCamp, we make the plan for DebConf once
we talk to them and learn the exact cost structure.

I further propose that we don't provide dinner on the 17 July (DebCamp
arrival Sunday) - one less thing to worry about, people can go out.

We also heard that people who don't have food included ("Basic"
people) can pay at the door of the cafeteria.

Here are the raw numbers for DebCamp for food for reconfirmed people
as of now:
                 Total     ( Reg   Veg  Vegan Other )
2011-07-18(Mon)    62	   (  49    11     1     1  )
2011-07-19(Tue)    70	   (  57    11     1     1  )
2011-07-20(Wed)    81	   (  67    12     1     1  )
2011-07-21(Thu)    91	   (  77    12     1     1  )
2011-07-22(Fri)   106	   (  89    15     1     1  )

I would propose arranging with Hotel Bosna this number of meals per day:
Monday    - 45 meals
Tuesday   - 70 meals
Wednesday - 80 meals
Thursday  - 90 meals
Friday    - 105 meals

However, they need to know that there *might* be more people than
this, and be able to eat if needed.  There also might be less than
this, and ideally we would be able to get a discount on that.



Who can work on communicating this to Hotel Bosna and DIVA, getting
exact details on the cost structure, and arrange a final plan?  Any
questions or ideas for improvements?

Thanks,

- richard

-- 
| Richard Darst  -  rkd@          -  boltzmann: up 721 days, 2:52
|            http://rkd.zgib.net  -  pgp 0xBD356740
| "Ye shall know the truth and -- the truth shall make you free"